Key articles

Workers Solidarity 106

Click on one of the thumbnails for a a PDF version of the northern or southern edition of Workers Solidarity 106 which can be printed out on eight A4 pages.

Anarchism and the WSM

The WSM stands for a society where production is organised to meet human needs and desires rather than to generate profit for a few. We hold that there should no limits on human liberty other than respect for the liberty of others. We believe in democracy, in direct democracy. This means everyone being able to have a say in making the decisions that will effect them.

We are an organisation of working class anarchists who have come together to maximise the impact of anarchist ideas. Pooling the resources of many people allows us to distribute 10,000 copies of this paper every two months, and 1,000 copies of our twice yearly magazine, Red & Black Revolution. It allows us to discuss the best ways to advance working class interests, and prioritise particular activities rather than be so widely dispersed as to have little effect. The next issue of Red and Black Revolution is due out in the coming weeks.

Over the next six months, the WSM will be organizing a series of public talks on the recent financial collapse and the libertarian socialist alternative. We’ve already published extensive analysis of the origin and role of the financial system which are well worth a read. Check out our website for the full articles. We aim to host meetings, in Tralee, Limerick, Galway, Belfast, Dublin and Cork. If you would like to help out in organising these meetings or are interested in organising one in your area, please get in touch via email at national@wsm.ie.

If you think the world needs to be built on a saner and more just economic basis, then consider getting organised in your trade union, residents’ association, women’s group etc. If, like us, you think that a just world requires the replacement of capitalism by a libertarian socialist approach, then consider getting involved in the WSM; replacing capitalism is going take a lot of people getting very organised.

In this issue ..

People Power! Pensioners show the way
What we were witnessing was a clear demonstration of people power in action. The government was in a panic and was drastically hurtling to reverse the medical card decision. And when this meeting was followed up 24 hours later with a demonstration of 15,000 organised by the Senior Citizens Parliament and another 15,000-strong student demonstration against the re-introduction of 3rd level fees it was obvious that politics in Ireland had changed drastically.

Students say “Feck Fees”
On October 22nd, in the biggest show of student strength in many years, over 15,000 third level students marched through the streets of Dublin. They were united in their opposition to the Budget’s 67% College Registration Fee increase and Minister for Education, Batt O’Keefe’s threat to bring back full college fees by September 2009

‘Partnership’ – A farce and a con
As the economy officially goes into recession, as electricity bills go up by 17.5%, as food bills are officially 6.4% higher than this time last year, the leaders of the Irish Congress of Trade Unions negotiate through the night and emerge bleary-eyed from the ‘social partnership’ talks with 1) a pay pause and 2) pay increases, when we eventually get them, lower than the rate of inflation

Stormont continues to crumble under its own contradictions!
The Executive, having been set up on the basis of institutionalised sectarianism and ‘parity of esteem,’ is now seeing that very sectarianism causing chaos in the corridors of Stormont. While the DUP and Sinn Féin squabble over issues ranging from policing and justice through to the Maze Prison, working people are suffering in their daily lives on bread and butter issues.

NI Women sold out by Labour on equal access to abortion
The hopes of women living in Northern Ireland for the extension of the 1967 Abortion Act were dashed when an amendment to extend the act brought before Westminster on 22nd October was not debated because of a procedural motion put by Harriet Harman, leader of the House of Commons and the Minister for Women and supported by many New Labour ‘feminist’ MPs.

Get out of that relationship! (Thinking About Anarchism)
Capitalism is not collapsing. Nothing massively unexpected has happened. If the ‘economists’ who turned up on every news programme this Autumn really didn’t know there was going to be a crash at some stage they should think of changing jobs.

Crisis, What Crisis? - Pyramids not housesThe official story is that the origins of the current crisis lie in the collapse of the US subprime mortgage market - i.e. poor people not paying their mortgages. Although this may have been the trigger event, it is not the real cause. The real cause lies in pyramids not houses. Specifically the enormous debt pyramid built up by the Western countries

What’s happening in Bolivia?In Bolivia sections of the local ruling class got so riled up that they tried to overthrow President Morales in September. The US ruling class, in collusion with local bosses, is trying to destabilise political and economic reforms.

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